PCC - Harvest at All Saints

The Harvest Service was well attended with many people commenting what a lovely service it was and how beautiful  the Church flowers looked. Thanks must be said to the Flower Team for doing such a great job as well as to everyone who kindly contributed produce which was distributed to the elderly within the village.
The harvest supper held in the village hall on 28th September was very successful, there was approximately 50 attending and made a friendly gathering. Thanks must go to all the help received from the ladies of the church and a very big thank you to Dougal Smith and members of "reprise" who entertained us after the meal with songs from West End shows. We were very fortunate and made a total of £200 after expenses for the Heating Fund for the Church.

Bell Ringers - Thank You Letters

The ringers of All Saints were very tocuhed today after recieving 31 thank you letters from the Year 3/4M class from Swanton Morley Primary School after their visit to the tower on Thursday 5th July. For that night ringing was suspended so we could all read the beautifully written letters. It become apparrant that all the children had a fantastic time, especailly watching their teacher having a go. There were also some fantastic questions asked, for example how heavy is the tower and how do you become a tower captain...lets hope they are keen enough to learn in the future.

Bell Ringers - The Day of Two Zip Wires

The Ringers' annual Teddy Bear Zip Wire took an unusual twist this year when the weather took a turn for the worse! The afternoon started off in beautiful sunshine with the Zip Wire taking its usual place from the top of All Saints Church Tower to the tree beside the West Gate. Many of the stalls were dotted around the grounds with refreshments and cakes being held in the church. We were also delighted to welcome the Firemen from Dereham Station, who allowed children (and adults) the chance to look around one of their Fire Appliances. There was as usual a wide variety of games and stalls around the church with one, the bean bag game, becoming very competitive between families and friends!
During this time our two brave volunteers up the tower, Darren Hall and Lee Fox, had noticed that there were some rather dark clouds starting to surround the village! At 3pm a huge flash of lightening grabbed the attention of everyone outside and so started the ad dash to get everything inside the church, take down the zip wire and get everyone off the roof before the storm hit (no mean feat!). After only ten minutes and with help from members of the public the zip wire was reborn inside All Saints Church! It now ran from the trap door of the ringing chamber to the pews below. The biggest cheer of the day went up after the first brave bear took a test run on the new styled wire!
The first prize of the raffle was won by David Stone. Lauren Cooke correctly guessed the name of the teddy for a second year (Henrik) and Anne Boston had the highest score on the Bean Bag Game.
We would like to thank everyone who took part in the event and helped to raised £253.87.

Bell Ringers - Celebratory Quarter Peal

The bell ringers rang a quarter of 1260 Plain Bob Doubles to celebrate the Golden Wedding Anniversary of Celia and Gordon Barker before the practice tonight. The band was made up of Ted Conyers, Sheila Smith, Sarah Seaman, Brian Laing, Aaron Hall (conductor) and Fiona Joisce

The Friends - Yard Sale Thank You

The Friends of All Saints' Church would like to thank all those who participated in the recent Yard Sale and in particular to thank Swanton Morley Butchers, the Village Shop and Darby's for kindly selling the maps, the 24 people who organised yard sales at their houses and the many visitors who seem to have spent their money generously.
The Yard Sale itself raised a total of £303. In addition the PCC raised £80 from their own 'yard sale' in the church.

Bell Ringers - School Children visit the Tower

The Year 3/4M class from Swanton Morley Primary School took a trip up the bell tower today to have find out what ringing is all about as part of their RE work. Tower Captain Aaron Hall, who works with the class as a teaching assistant explained all about the history of the tower and the bells which sit in it to the assembled group. The children were then given a short ringing demonstration of rounds and call changes as well as a short blast of plain hunt on five. To round off their visit up the tower Class Teacher Nutan Mulholland and Teaching Assistant Sarah Sadler were invited to have a go...we have two potiental ringers there!

PCC - Wooden Crosses for The Troops of the Light Dragoons

The Rev'd Adrian Aubry-Jones conducted a special church service for the troops from the Light Dragoons, who are stationed at Robertson Barracks in Swanton Morley, prior to their deployment to Afghanistan later this month. The troops were presented with special wood cross which they will take with them on their tour.

PCC - Pancake Day Coffee Morning

The Pancake Day coffee morning held by Rhoda and Jack Edwards raised £156.50 for the Church's new heating fund. Rhoda and Jack would like to extend their sincere thanks to everyone who supported them. 

Bell Ringers - Ring out the Old and Ring in the New

The ringers of Swanton Morley took part in the age old tradition of ringing out the old Year and ringing in the New Year as friends and family watched on. The bells rung out for the last few minutes of 2011 before one by one standing, fading out along with the old year  leaving just the tenor to strike 12 on the stroke of midnight. To welcome the new year all 6 bells pealed out in joyful celebration some extremely well struck rounds and call changes. The band was 1. Mark Tweedie, 2. Sarah Seaman, 3. Claire Willettes, 4. Helen Watson, 5. Ted Conyers, 6. Aaron Hall. After ringing the band, along with their families descended the tower to watch the numerous fireworks being set off around the village.